Cardinal Robert W. McElroy stated that Catholic colleges and universities have a crucial role in stopping the decline of the "order of grace" in society. The Cardinal delivered this message during his homily at the opening Mass for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) annual meeting on January 31, 2026. Restoring the order of grace requires placing it at the core of college life and being firm about Catholic social teaching. Discussion and debate within these institutions are essential for achieving true moral and spiritual conversion. The ACCU meeting's theme was "Through the Lens of Mission" and included Cardinal Christophe Pierre as a concelebrant at the opening Mass.
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Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington delivered a homily at the opening Mass of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) annual meeting on January 31, 2026, in Washington, D.C.1
The event, themed “Through the Lens of Mission,” gathered leaders from 230 U.S. Catholic higher education institutions serving about 675,000 students.1
McElroy contrasted the "order of nature," which is self-seeking, power-driven, and dominant, with the "order of grace," emphasizing community, forgiveness, dialogue, and peace.1
He referenced Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life to illustrate these forces shaping society.1
He warned that the U.S. is witnessing an "eclipse" of grace amid polarization and policy shifts.1
Drawing from Matthew 5:1-12, McElroy described the Beatitudes as inverting the order of nature by blessing the poor, merciful, peacemakers, and persecuted.1
They provide a "moral framework" for personal and public life, countering wealth accumulation and division.1
McElroy criticized mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, urging border control for violent criminals but rejecting vilification or indiscriminate removals of productive long-term residents.1
He opposed cuts to international aid, noting the Trump administration's shutdown of USAID, which eliminated less than 1% of the federal budget but could cause millions of deaths, per Oxfam estimates.1
On abortion, he faulted both major parties for inadequate protections.1
He decried military threats for narrow goals and political polarization stoking divisions.1
Catholic colleges must center the "order of grace" through unapologetic promotion of social teaching, fostering debate, moral conversion, and accompaniment.1
They should heal cultural divides by embracing others' dignity, as Pope Francis taught.1
This mission addresses national crises in immigration, poverty, and global solidarity.1
The homily aligns with ongoing Catholic responses to Trump administration policies, including protests against immigration enforcement.1
ACCU, founded in 1899, advocates for Catholic higher education nationwide.1
Investigate Catholic higher‑education’s role in restoring societal grace
Catholic higher education holds a pivotal role in restoring societal grace by serving as a leaven that infuses human culture with the supernatural life of God, forming students in faith and virtue, and witnessing to Christ's transformative love amid secular fragmentation. Drawing from papal teachings and theological reflections, this mission emerges from the Church's recognition that grace elevates nature, enabling authentic human flourishing, while Catholic universities are uniquely positioned to advance this elevation through evangelization, intellectual rigor, and moral witness.
Grace, in Catholic theology, is God's free, unmerited gift that justifies, sanctifies, and perfects human nature, ordered as it is to its supernatural end in divine friendship. Pope Francis echoes St. Thérèse of Lisieux in describing a "little way of trust and love" that aligns with traditional doctrine: once justified by sanctifying grace, humans cooperate through good works, meriting growth in holiness without claiming grace as a right. This distinction between operative grace—prevenient and initiating conversion—and cooperative grace—sustaining justification and sanctification—underscores grace's universal offer, though resistible, as taught by St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Vatican II-era theology.
Societal grace, then, implies a communal participation in this divine life, countering Pelagian tendencies toward self-sufficiency and Jansenist views of irresistible force. Early councils like Carthage (418) and Orange (529) affirmed grace's necessity for every good act, including faith, while rejecting predestination to evil and upholding God's salvific will for all. Later teachings, from Quiersy (849) to Benedict XVI, balance this with human freedom to resist grace, fostering a society where mercy and justice converge. In a fragmented world, restoring societal grace means renewing communal hope through just distribution of goods and care for creation, as the early Church exemplified by holding possessions in common (Acts 4:32-35). Catholic higher education participates by intellectually and pastorally nurturing this graced order.
The Church has long entrusted higher education with incarnating the Gospel in culture, a mandate rooted in Vatican II and reiterated by Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Francis. As John Paul II stated in his address to U.S. bishops, Catholic colleges must provide "a public, enduring and pervasive influence of the Christian mind" to equip students for societal burdens and faith witness, preserving their Catholic identity in teaching, studies, and life. This identity springs from an "institutional connection with the Catholic message," ensuring the adjective "Catholic" reflects profound reality.
Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990) calls the ecclesial community to support these institutions, guarding their freedom and aiding their renewal for the new millennium. Similarly, Sapientia Christiana (1979) and Veritatis Gaudium (2017) emphasize uniting universities to the Church's salvific mission, making Christ's message present in human culture. Vatican II urged establishing such schools worldwide, forming "truly outstanding" students for responsibility and witness, as "the future of society and of the Church herself is closely bound up with the development of young people engaged in higher studies."
This mission is not peripheral but essential: universities "flourish everywhere and work effectively" to advance the Gospel, countering cultural drift by re-evangelizing society.
Catholic universities restore societal grace by elevating natural pursuits—science, arts, philosophy—through supernatural participation, presupposing nature's obediential potency to grace without autonomy from God. They form consciences attuned to eternal law's higher arc, producing graduates who, graced and meritorious, transform society.
Practically, this involves:
In an era of crisis, as Pope Francis notes, universities foster hope by promoting social justice, mercy-justice, and care for creation, mirroring St. John Paul II's legacy. They counter "social injustice" and environmental neglect, regenerating a "more healthy and equal world" through graced communal life.
Challenges persist: preserving identity amid secular pressures, navigating prudential judgments on issues like immigration or policy (per USCCB teachings), and ensuring fidelity amid debates on conscience and inclusion. Yet, as sources affirm, more recent magisterial emphases on identity and mission take precedence.
Catholic higher education restores societal grace by faithfully embodying the Church's vision: grace perfecting nature, universities leavening culture. Through identity-rooted formation, they produce witnesses who advance justice-mercy, hope, and divine friendship, fulfilling Vatican II's call for the Church's future. Prioritizing this mission ensures society emerges from crises renewed, as early Christians did—better, not worse.